No Justification For Hate

A good end cannot sanctify evil means, nor must

We ever do evil, so that good can come of it.

William Penn, Quaker

Br. Teasdale includes this quote in his collection and makes these observations:

     “The ends never justify the means, as we can see from the terrible evil propagated by global terrorism. Terrorists convince themselves, through gross misinterpretations and distortions of religious teachings, that employing murderous means to achieve a political goal is not only permissible, but ordained. Such thinking is the by-product of a deep moral corruption.

     Let us labor for the moral clarity to grasp this Quaker wisdom and guard our consciences from any corrupt reasoning that tries to justify evil.”

     In the above citation, I purposely left out the more time bound and tense reference to Islamic terror-not because it has gone away, but because it has been perniciously replaced by our own homegrown domestic brands of ugly propaganda and violent responses.

These forms of hate speech are rooted not only in bastardized Scripture, but in the core beliefs of systematic racism that has long infected our country from its very beginnings.

While I have always been an advocate for reason and reconciliation, and a vigorous advocate for free speech, I have had to admit, reluctantly, there are some movements of mind, heart, and will that do not deserve a place in our “civilized” society.

Because of their vile motives, they have to be confronted directly, and yes, eventually stamped out or destroyed because of their destructive and dehumanizing content. 

     There can be no justification for hate-even when it’s completely and academically or objectively understood, and when it has been carefully appraised and explained along cultural and political lines. There is no validity in its perpetuation, except if you value chaos and/or social annihilation.